Wednesday, June 22, 2011

When we were in about 10th grade, we loved to gather around with all our (girl) friends and sing songs around the guitar with our (one) guy friend who would humor us by playing all of Rites of Passage and Swamp Ophelia and the one song we knew that was not by the Indigo Girls (What a Good Boy, Barenaked Ladies). We started to fall in love with the experience of just sitting around and informally singing and harmonizing and pretending to be really deep and emotive, and we thought we are going to do this OUR WHOLE LIFE LONG.

We arrived at college and mostly we did a lot of singing without any musical accompaniment, but once in a while we’d find a pianist or skilled guitarist to play along while we tried to navigate the key change in Whitney’s I Have Nothing or sing some sad depressing Jeff Buckley number.

And then for the last 8 years, we’ve felt a great void in our lives. Yes, we’ve found some opportunities to sing (small shows, voice lessons, filling in for our Choir friends), but it’s hard to find accompaniment for when you finally convince yourself that some boy doesn’t like you back or that your stewing lamb didn’t come out quite right and you just want to sing it out.Also, there are those times when mom or some friends want you to sing for them and you just feel silly singing without musical accompaniment or without 13 of your friends standing behind you in a horseshoe shape while snapping and ooo-ing.

That changes RIGHT NOW.Yesterday, we called the Old Town School of Folk Music, signed up for a class THAT NIGHT, rented a guitar, and voila, within 5 hours, we were sitting in class learning our D, A7, G, Em, and C chords.Remarkably, you can play any number of songs with those basic chords, including, our favorite from last night:

JL pointed out that this was his audition song for our college a cappella group, so it’s really fitting because it symbolizes a return to our musical selves.

Already, we have amassed painful finger tips and a list of songs we want to learn ASAP.They include guitar covers of the entire Adele 21 album and Joni’s saddest songs (Case of You, River, Blue).We swear one day, we will learn an upbeat happy song that does not involve a 1970s television show.

Monday, June 06, 2011

Well well well.Sorry we disappeared amidst our travels, but not having a job for 3 months got EXHAUSTING. Seriously.And then having a job became EXHAUSTING too.We have decided that we need block scheduling in life like those schools that make you do stuff for three months and then you get a month off.Or we need to move to Europe where you get a month off even if you don’t do stuff.

Anyway, after our last post, we were dunzo with Peru, went back to Bogotá for a week, where our friend JJ joined us, and then headed to Chicago for more apt hunting and lease signing. After finding our now current home, we jetted off to London for a (cold, but) SUPER fun week with cousins, friends, actual sidewalks, and cabs in which we did not have to fear kidnapping. We made it out of LHR just in time to miss the (ONE INCH OF) snow that shut the entire city down, and then headed to Mumbai for more cousins, uncles, grandma and friend time, but this time with fewer sidewalks and far less snow (ALTHOUGH HOW CAN YOU GET ANY LESS THAN ONE INCH).

It was then back in Chicago for New Years, New Apartment, and New Job, and New Life.

Now it’s five months or so later, and we have a few thoughts on life in Chicago v. life in NYC. Queue the bullet points!

COLD!HOT! There are 2 seasons.Like, last week, it was still winter.Today it is 92 degrees.According to the New York Times, Chicago will be Baton Rouge by the end of this century.We have never been to Baton Rouge, but it appears to be hot.That said, we would not mind Baton Rouge-like conditions in April and May, when it sometimes STILL SNOWS HERE. Also, there was that time in February where there was thundersnow that made our building shake and us fear getting caught on Lake Shore Drive for 8 hours.

FOOD!It is really good here.And somewhat manageable.We have a list (google doc, natch) of places to go and places we’ve been.And we talk about it.A LOT.Like it’s a common date talking-point.Sometimes we give people reading rights to the doc, but never editing rights, as we don’t really know if we can trust people quite yet with something so sacred.

SPACE!Not the kind where there is no oxygen or where NASA no longer plans to go.Like apartment closet space, space on the sidewalks, space in the Whole Foods line, space at the Trader Joe’s wine shop.We are tempted to gain some lbs just to take advantage of it all.

BEAUTY!Our view from our Apt is kind of sick.We are way up high and way up north, so we see the Lake, downtown, Wrigley Field, and can see all the way to the birthplace of the great MJ himself, Gary, IN.The urban landscape is nice, the city is clean, there is green space and public art, and very few full trash bags on the street. You know when your friends come to visit NYC and then say, OMG, there are so many garbage bags out for collection here, and you are like, “what do you mean, how else does it work?” There is another way, people!

CHEAPNESS!It’s nice to go out to eat and not spend a fortune.Although one can still find a way to go out to eat and still spend a fortune.It’s also nice to have cheaper ZipCars, cheaper groceries, and cheaper prosties.JUST KIDDING, we don’t know the answer to that last one, but we can take a guess.

TIME! OK, this last one is a lie. We initially thought that we would have more time to like, pick up a trade, such as the guitar, or TV/VCR repair. Or at least keep up with the old Español.But no. We are working a bit more than we thought, which is totes fine b/c we like our job and our co-workers, but our trade skills will have to wait a bit.

Obviously we have left out the BOYS! bullet point, but we do have observations on that front already which we will communicate shortly.